Pharmacy funding cuts - is homeopathy the answer?

Pharmacy funding cuts are starting to dig deep, and many pharmacies face closure if new, profitable revenue streams, are not found quickly.

2017 and beyond will be testing times for the community pharmacy sector, so every opportunity to keep these foundations of the local high-street alive must be sought.

IS EVERY OPPORTUNITY A WISE CHOICE FOR THE REPUTATION OF PHARMACY?

The NHS is choosing to stop paying for homeopathic medications.  A long overdue action.  Leave homeopathy to the health food industry.  Pharmacy is not into faith healing.

In The Chemist & Druggist, a renowned pharmacy publication, a recent article has sparked many comments from the pharmacy profession as to whether "Homeopathy could be pharmacy's saviour from funding cuts". 

Comments made by pharmacists and those closely connected to the pharmacy sector were not very complimentary to the idea of capitalizing on the sale of homeopathic remedies:

·         Great. Let's do a proper return to the 17th century and bring back purging and bloodletting as well.

·         David, why are you suggesting this rubbish. The future of the profession, if it has one, is not in quack remedies with no scientific basis.

These are strong replies so what is the issue with homeopathy?

What is homeopathy?

The British Homeopathic Association describes homeopathy in this definition:

“Homeopathy is a natural form of medicine used by over 200 million people worldwide to treat both acute and chronic conditions. It is based on the principle of ‘like cures like’. In other words, a substance taken in small amounts will cure the same symptoms it causes if taken in large amounts.”

For those involved in the homeopathic industry, worth over £46 million according to a Mintel report on Complimentary medicines 2007, homeopathy works. The belief and faith in homeopathy can be very strong in those wishing to use it, but for pharmacy medicine is not a religion.

Pharmacy works with facts and strong evidence. The Healthy Living Pharmacy status pharmacies are working towards within the new pharmacy contract, will strengthen this notion.

Conventional medicine, using evidence based science rather than anecdotal claims, views homeopathy as nothing more than a placebo, yet surprisingly  has been available through the NHS for many years. The time has now come, with the NHS running out of money, to cut back on many peripheral and worthless services, with homeopathy being one such cut for many Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). If homeopathy is no longer prescribed on the NHS, the over the counter market for such "treatments" will be opened further. Could this be pharmacy's best opportunity to plug the pharmacy funding cuts?  Should it be?

Plugging the pharmacy funding cuts - the right way.

It is not surprising for pharmacists to refuse to accept this opportunity with homeopathy.  A complimentary therapy, with little clinical evidence, is not a treatment option. Real medical problems must be treated by real medicines.   

Pharmacists are very highly trained experts in medicines and to fall en-mass into recommending non-evidence based therapies, purely for financial gain, violates the pharmacy code of ethics. Luckily for the pharmacy profession most pharmacists will refuse this option as seen in the loud responses to the article. Fraudulent medical therapies could put pharmacists at serious risk, when proper treatment options are not provided and lead to more serious medical conditions.

One answer has been staring pharmacy in the face for over 15 years....

Flu vaccines? Recently the pharmacy sector has turned towards flu-jabs as a means to stay profitable with a recent article in "The Pharmacist" magazine titled "Fantastic flu vaccine effort by community pharmacy" waxing lyrical about the 817,000 flu vaccinations achieved by pharmacies in 2016/17 season. 

This, however, equates to a paltry £30 profit per pharmacy per month on average.

Pharmacy needs to look further than just turnover and service uptake. 

Profits now matter a great deal too. Flu-jabs are not the saviour of pharmacy after all.

So who could be a saviour of pharmacy?

Lipotrim

Lipotrim is an evidence based weight management programme offered exclusively  by healthcare professionals, including nearly 2000 pharmacies, across the UK and Ireland. The wealth of evidential  data,  produced from audits, has demonstrated the value of Lipotrim, not only to the patients treated successfully, with significant weight losses and reduced medication needs, but also for the pharmacies with highly profitable remuneration.

This white paper, "Treating obesity and excess weight using a holistic, Pharmacy based approach to weight management", from Waistaway shows what a single pharmacist has achieved. With weight losses in this one study averaging above 11%, even for type 2 diabetics.

Lipotrim is replicating this achievement in pharmacy across the UK and Ireland. 

Weight management is hot topic with the National Diabetes Prevention Programme being rolled out in the UK and a similar programme in Ireland. It is time for more pharmacies to realise they are in the perfect location, and that it is a perfect time to really utilise their expertise in medicine and general health, tackling the obesity and diabetes crisis head-on.

Contact Lipotrim now to request information on how to join Lipotrim as a patient or a pharmacy

on 0800 413 735 (UK)

on 00353 (0) 1525 5636 (ROI)

or email lipotrim@lipotrim.co.uk